Moonlight's Ambassador (Aileen Travers Book 3)(61)

"Now, what is it you want from life?" he asked, his back turned toward me.

There was a lump in my throat that kept the words trapped inside. I took several deep breaths through my nose, clenching my hands into fists to hide their trembling.

My voice, when I forced it past that lump was subdued. "Caroline and my family safe. That's all I want."

His head bent, something I couldn't read in his posture. "That's good enough for now, I suppose," he said, in a voice so soft I wasn't sure if I was meant to have heard.

He was before me in an instant, moving with that supernatural speed both he and Liam possessed. My eyes fought without success to keep up with him.

A bloody wrist was held to my lips. I flinched but was held motionless by his hand at the back of my head.

"Drink and be mine," he crooned, his voice a deadly lullaby.

The blood was cool against my lips, and an icy tingle spread from where it touched, as my mouth filled with saliva. It's draw pulled at me despite my mental reservations. My will fought its lure in a losing battle.

His thumb massaged the back of my neck in a subconscious caress meant to be soothing.

"Come now, my dear. This is the path you chose." His eyes were all I could see, the glow of them filling every space of me, even as untasted blood dripped down my chin. The words were an echo of that long-ago night when the younger me died.

I gasped, the blood filling my mouth, flooding my taste buds with bliss and power. It felt like I'd stuck my tongue into a light socket and was trying to gulp down liquid electricity. Painful. Tingling. And, oh so, fulfilling. It felt like someone poured energy into me, filling me to bursting, until my skin struggled to contain itself.

Liam's words from before came back to me. I could see now, what he meant. Already the pieces that made me Aileen, threatened to submerge under the tidal wave that was Thomas. His power ate away at me, huge chunks at a time. It was a struggle to retain myself in the closest to an out-of-body experience I'd ever had.

Someone could have walked up to me and put a knife in my back and I doubt I would have noticed, as long as I kept sucking down this blood.

Even as the blood coated my throat and sent power washing through my veins, I pulled the shreds of my mental defenses around me, building them up one painful tree at a time. When I could no longer summon the will for trees, I built shrubs, and bushes, and formations of rock around the core of me.

My mental defenses weren't like others. They weren't formed of hard walls or castle fortresses. They were organic and pulled from nature. As flexible and tenacious as I was, from the stubborn spruces, the hard oak, and the wild roses protecting the secret bits of me.

He might have the rest of me, but he could not have that. It was mine and mine alone. Even when every scrap of me begged to hand itself over, no questions asked.

"That's enough. Any more and you would be in danger," Thomas hummed, his thumb brushed against my jaw before gradually exerting pressure and pulling his wrist free with a pop.

I slowly came back to myself laying on the floor, staring up at the wooden beams of his ceiling. His office was very manly, was the odd thought that struck me. Thomas crouched next to me, showing no signs of the lethargy that was quickly invading my limbs.

"What was that?" I asked through lips that had gone mostly numb, like all of that energy had deadened their nerves. The blood still pumped through my veins, a fire making its way down each of my limbs and then back to my core.

"That, my dearest, was a proper feeding." Thomas peered down at me with an amused expression. "You'll be fine in about an hour. Your body just needs to process it and burn some of the excess power off."

I started to sit but didn't make it much further than the thought. My body refused to move. It was almost as if I'd had a really good workout, one that had left every muscle in my body pleasantly lax and unwilling to go through the effort of moving.

A faint feeling of worry threatened to steal the cloud of bliss I was riding on. I pulled my attention from it, not willing to give up this contentment. I'd been worried for so long. Scared and alone. Thomas would fix that now.

He bent and picked me up, cradling me to his chest as he walked toward a leather daybed I hadn't noticed before. Probably for all his donors, the snarky side of me said.

I blinked, a little more of the contentment I'd been feeling fading away as he laid me down. His hand brushing against my cheek as he took a seat beside me.

"Now, let's test this connection of ours, shall we?" he asked, his fangs denting his lower lips.

I gave him a sleepy smile, my thoughts fogged and seeing no problem with that. Why would I? A connection to my sire would only strengthen me and him. It was a sacred thing. I didn't know why I had fought against it for so long.

"Who helped conceal you from me?" he asked, his voice all I could hear, drowning out the rest of the world.

"Hmm. I'm right here." What an odd question.

Amusement glinted in his eyes. "I could grow to like this version of you."

My smile widened. "Because I don't challenge you?"

"No, because you look happy. It's a look that agrees with you." His expression was soft.

"Happiness is an illusion. Short and fleeting. Here one moment and gone the next."

He brushed back my hair. "Who is it that instilled in you such a dark outlook in life?"